Messages

Great batch of entries this month!

My thoughts:

Food Wars by Slasher

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Great application of the theme. The game features all the elements you expect from a Slasher game! As someone pointed out, the map was a really nice addition over the previous button-driven navigation. I particularly enjoyed the area that was only added when it became available

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I Rented a Boat by eri0o

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Holy COW! Creating a 3D immersive experience in AGS in a matter of weeks is an unparalleled feat. Good story and gameplay. And I have to mention that I LOVE games where I get to explore!!

I found the graphics to be a bit too unrefined and the navigation confusing at times, particularly in caves. There were times that I wasn't clear on what happened (I actually didn't know that I acquired the cube or that it was a cube, or the key until I saw them in inventory. I felt myself getting a bit impatient during the text-only intro to the game.

That said, this entry is a groundbreaker and really opens new options for what you can do in AGS.

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Huggles Goes on a Trip by fernewelten

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This game clinched it in all areas: idea, story, graphics, puzzles, humour. I LOVED the feminist guard persona and how a puzzle was made out of her!

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Return Journey by GOC Games

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Not as much an adventure game as quick thinking and action. I played 3 times till I got a perfect score. I would recommend that when the game ends, you get more of a comment on your performance rather than a generic explanation. Overall a really nice experience

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And the vote goes to....

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Actually, to me it was a toss up between I Rented a Boat because of the effort in almost inventing a game engine for a contest entry and Huggles. I thought about it and overall, I felt I had a more enjoyable experience playing Huggles because despite being more conventional, it felt more complete and refined and therefore received by vote.

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Great job!
Huggles Goes on a Trip by ferneweltenReturn Journey by GOC Games

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I couldn't figure how to save the pilot after he gets shot in the leg.

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look in the toilet on the far right of the airplane

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Ok I tried again and got the good ending. I'm not quite sure what happened.

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There was a bright-coloured box outside the cave and I must have hit something because I ended up with a key on the top right (Is that inventory?) as well as a cube (I have no idea where I got that from) and the gate disappeared and I ended up in the right place to complete the game.

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Anyway, I really like how this game changes how AGS can be used!

[@Shadow1000]

@Shadow1000 Se algum dia quiser conversar por voz sobre qualquer coisa, apenas para praticar, seria divertido!

Topo! Na verdade, o seu inglês e muito melhor do que meu português. Apesar disso, eu concordo e quero praticar.

Eu adoro seu país, minha experiência mais divertida foi passear de trailer em Banff, Jasper e arredores, inclusive devo voltar lá quando tiver vacinado... No futuro, um dia.

Que legal que você conhece o Canadá! Você tem razão, tem muitos lugares bem lindos aqui. No Brasil também, com certeza...

Por entquanto, quero perdir algumas dicas, tá?

[@Shadow1000]

@Shadow1000
Mal, não vi seu comentário, rs. Eu moro no Rio de Janeiro, eu basicamente aprendi a falar inglês jogando mesmo. E na escola que estudei tinha aulas de inglês também! Basicamente isso mesmo hahaha

Carioca! Nossa que legal!

Na verdade, sou gringo canadense e estou aprendendo português sozinho pelo aplicativos, YouTube, converso com brasileiros pelo Whats, etc. Então você está de parabéns, porque eu sei que aprender uma língua não é facil, e achei que você fosse falante nativo de inglês!

Mesmo que gostei do jogo, não quero deixar os meus comentarios agora. Quero receber o "good ending" antes

Really enjoying the game. I love the series.

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I'm stuck in the jail. I've got the mop head and the chocolate, but I don't know how to get rid of the cop guarding the cell.

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Do you have the chocolate? Note that it has a metal wrapper. Also note the microwave in the kitchen as well as the smoke detector. Any ideas of how to distract the guard?

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I kept the rest of the game at 640x360 because I find lower resolution text hard to read, and could not pull the walk and read - honestly the best would be to have voice acting, but me not being an English speaker kinda prohibited going this route ...

Cara, você é brasileiro, né? Você fala inglês super bem! Onde mora e onde aprendeu inglês?

Acabei de jogar e gostei muito.

I played this relatively short game last night. Overall, a great experience!

- Creepy story, graphics, music and animations. Contemporary theme about a YouTube influencer desperate for views
- Well-designed puzzles. Not unreasonably difficult but I like the multi-stage puzzles in particular.

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The last puzzle was a time-consuming pixel hunt. You might want to make the last puzzle item stand out a bit more

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- This game is a great improvement over FALL in the sense that it was more refined and the story is easier to follow
- There are a lot of items that make the cursor glow when you hover over them, but there's no action available (i.e. look or use). I found that confusing.

Cheers to all those who participated. I noticed a lot of familiar names in the credits

I finished the game last night and my comments are similar to those of the previous two chapters:

- Great graphics, great story, really funny.
- Good puzzle design. I am happy that I was able to complete the game without help. Some of the puzzles took some thinking but I got through them.
- I need to see what happens next!!

Cbeers

I didn't have a chance to post my thoughts, but I did vote for One More Fathom.

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Pig in a Poke was very recognizably Slasher style in terms of things to do, navigation, story, etc. But One More Fathom REALLY reminded me of the type of mid-eightys games I used to play in high school. At first glance it SEEMS pretty routine but once you get into it, the unexpected just keeps happening. Add to that the money management, strategy and so on and this game really stands out.

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I finished playing this release last night at around 1 am.

The summary of my thoughts is that the experience is unlike anything I can compare to. I'll try to break down the different areas:

- Graphics, animation, sound, music, environment: I don't know if I've played an AGS game before where these are all off-the-charts top-notch to the point that this plays a huge role in turning a game into a all-involving experience. Super-realistic animation (I assume there's some element of motion-capture, rotoscoping involved to make it look and feel REAL), combined with that on-an-angle camera scene view, with the use of areas coming to life by lighting the gloomy backgrounds where appropriate - all an A+
- Story, characters and theme: incredible how each scenario pulls you right into a different world and experience.
- Puzzles: there are a few that make the game more interactive, but that's not what this game is about. They are at the difficulty level that is right in that sweet spot between being satisfying to solve, heightening the experience and not being so difficult as to make the game frustrating and a negative experience.

Overall, the only way I can describe this game is MAGIC. This is not a game you play, it's one you live.

Huge kudos to everyone involved!

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If I remember correctly, I already took an item from the fridge but I can't remember what it was. I am assuming that your reference to the cellar of the cafe is where the band is? If so, I was there and got the tape.

It sounds like I've pretty much done everything that's required to complete the game. So can someone tell me how to play the record and tape. I guess there's not much to do at this point. Is there a way to get a "game over" screen, or credits or anything indicating that you're done?

edited to say that I actually forgot about the heavy door, but I see in your post that you don't need to open it. This game seems to have a lot of things to do that in reality can't be done?

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Thanks again!

My assessment of the game is very similar to heltonjon.

I am pretty stuck but I don't know what to ask because unlike most games, I don't really see any puzzles or goals or things to do other than walk around very slowly.

I'll state where I'm at and hopefully people who have progressed can lend a hand:

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I got to the tower. This seems to be the extent of the area reachable by boat. There is a puzzle here with an ancient scripture that I am guessing tells you how to push buttons and switches on the panel but I don't see any connection between the scripture and anything on the panel.

My inventory is Apple, oar, tape, record. I haven't found a way to play the tape or record.

The apple takes me to an area where there doesn't seem to be anything to do. There is a VHS player but I haven't encountered a VHS,

There's a big ball blocking a path with a smooth surface with no apparent way to pass.

I don't know if I'm supposed to be able to enter the cabin right after you get out of the boat. I don't know if there's anything to do in the cafe, ghost house (other than spill the brandy and speak to a ghost), grocery store.

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So, any info that I might be missing that will help me progress would be appreciated!

I honestly just thought that point and click games are pretty slow and that's that. 

My opinion is that it depends: if it's a game in a limited walking area (e.g. all inside one house or something) then I would be ok if it's a bit slower. But Fool Around has a LOT of walking so there's a lot of waiting for the character to cross the screen. I happen to love exploring and it's a real bonus to me if a game has a lot of rooms (+1 for Fool Around) but not when I spend more time waiting than playing.

I started playing the game. I really enjoy the beautiful graphics and quirky atmosphere of the world.

I wish there would be a way to speed up the character, though. There is a lot of walking and I find myself spending more of my playing time waiting for the character to walk than actually playing. Maybe I'm just impatient but I usually set the game speed pretty fast when I'm given the option from the settings, and this is especially true with a game with a lot of walking. I plan to continue playing but so far this is my thought.

In case you're interested, I got as far as

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getting the rehearsal tape from the band

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Here you can see where to mark the screen resolution at the start menu (remove the hook!): https://www.bilder-upload.eu/bild-44a993-1614175070.jpg.html
My saved games folder I can find under "Documents". If your folder should not be there take a search "Waterhouse Demo"

1. The checkbox (or tickbox) is not on my start screen. Mine is identical to yours but that box is not there.
2. You are right. There is a Waterhouse Demo folder in My Documents with 3 saved games. But when I'm in the game to Load a game they don't show?

1. Is there a way to change the settings so the game area fills the screen better? I'm finding it hard to tell what certain things are so maybe if they were bigger that would be solved.

2. I got pretty far in the demo but I can't seem to load saved games. When I save, I don't see my save in the list although when I save again it says that there's a game saved with that name. When I exit the game and try to load, it doesn't show any saves. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

As for your first question - try one or a combination of the following options:

1. Remove the hook at the bottom of the Start menu (in front of "change display resolution").
2. Choose "toggle fullscream" in the ingame menue (right mouse click).
3. Change the Windows screen setting to 800 x 600.

1. I assume the Start menu is the window that launches when you first load the game? It has the options of Start | Load... | Exit. There is no "change display resolution or hook as far as I can see.
2. Toggle fullscreen just makes the game in an window, but the size of the game is about the same.
3. Window resolution 800 X 600 does fill the screen better so maybe I'll try playing that way.

And If you can`t find your saved games ...

Where did you install the game? You didn`t move the Waterhouse folder? Presumably there is no access to the "Saved Games" folder. Let me know where the two folders ended up, you may have to move one of them ...

Hope I could help you for a start!

Raphael

I just downloaded and let the installer do its own job. The icon leads to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Waterhouse Demo".  I don't see any "Saved Games" folder in there. What two folders are you referring to?

Vielen Dank

1. Is there a way to change the settings so the game area fills the screen better? I'm finding it hard to tell what certain things are so maybe if they were bigger that would be solved.

2. I got pretty far in the demo but I can't seem to load saved games. When I save, I don't see my save in the list although when I save again it says that there's a game saved with that name. When I exit the game and try to load, it doesn't show any saves. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Congrats to Slasher and Raccoon on a well-deserved win!

Beautiful backgrounds! Good story ideas. Even though the demo was brief, it shows a lot of potential. Good luck on development!